Trip to NA

[nate89]

Hi all,

This is my first TR and am not sure if there is any format, but here goes!

I have just started a trip around NA for a little over a month.

Itinerary goes like this: (Staying in Hilton all places, but Carmel and Santa Barbara).

• 28th Dec, 2010: Los Angeles
• 30th of Dee, 2010: New York (Domestic flight - groan).
• 5th of Jan, 2011: Back to Los Angeles (Domestic flight - double groan).
• 10th of Jan, 2011: Santa Barbara and Carmel for a night each (Driving in a Mustang!). Staying in a B&B's
• 12th of Jan, 2011: San Francisco! Fisherman's Wharf.
• 17th of Jan, 2011: Seattle
• 19th of Jan, 2011: Vancouver
• 24th of Jan, 2011: Whistler!
• 28th of Jan, 2011: Vancouver
• 29th of Jan, 2011: Seattle
• 30th of Jan, 2011: Los Angeles
• 31st of Jan - 2nd of Feb, 2011: Sydney
  

I will post replies with updates at each section.

As of right now I am at the LAX Hilton, arrived about 6 hours ago.

The flight wasn't bad (QF11 economy). I was expecting an A380 which was a bit disappointing, but I guess given the recent issues they are still not being used...? Or maybe I got the flights confused.

We had pretty good service on the flight - my girlfriend didn't want the in-flight lunch since she doesn't like them and we had had lunch already. However, she liked the cheese + biscuits and the steward saw it and went and got her a couple more without asking.

Also, the check-in lady put our seats together without us asking, although she wasn't particularly friendly. It was very peculiar when we checked in though - the flight was full, but there was no line! Not complaining though

On the topic of lines - LAX customs was absolutely awful.
Lines going as far as the eye could see. We were lining up for 2 hours just for immigration, and then another 40 minutes for customs declaration. However, after that it was fine. We caught a courtesy bus to the Hilton LAX and we were allowed early check-in.

Room is okay - planes quite loud, as is the hallway (we're on the 17th floor which is the top floor. We're a bit away from the lifts too). Oh well, the planes should stop at midnight :-|
Bathroom was a bit sad though... tiny bath/shower combo.

Was a nice sunset from the view of our room at least

(can't post images yet - need 2 more posts ) will post it later...

Will post updates as I go along! Sorry if this is a bit incoherent - I am a bit tired haha

 

[jandj]

Looking forward to the trip nate89 ..

 

[nate89]

so we flew to JFK yesterday.

In all honesty, the domestic flight went absolutely fine. I don't see what the fuss about domestic travel in the US is all about.

Our customs people were much friendlier than those in the Australia (were joking/smiling/laughing - shock/horror!).

The flight was, admittedly, a bit of a pain. However, given we were in economy and given the time of year it could have been a lot worse! For those that did not know, there had been a lot of snow prior to our arrival in new york and, as a result, there were a lot of delays.

There was no such delay with our flight. Also, aside from the guy besides me seemingly having ADD (was not able to sit in his seat for more than 5 minutes), the flight went seamlessly.

The only issue we had that was flight related was catching a cab to our hotel in New York (Millenium Hilton in Manhattan). The line would have been around 70 people long (not including couples/families) so we had to wait in ~0 degrees Celsius for about an hour. Not fun!

Once we got to the hotel though there was no issue.

We checked in fine (I had rung up earlier saying we would have a late check-in). The room is very nice (will post up pics once I can post up pics ).

Only issue I have with the room is the noise. We can hear if our neighbours are using their shower quite easliy. Also, the noise from the construction site of ground zero is.... quite loud in all honesty. Once you are asleep it is no issue, but if you are having one of those nights it can be a bit annoying.
In the hotels defense, I must also add that they give you free ear plugs with a note apologising for the noise so it is not a complete oversight on their behalf, but also mine.

The service is impeccable so far from anyone we have come across. The person who carried our luggage up to our room was very knowledgeable of the city (was not completely fluent in english, but easily enough to get by and very good at his history as well as current events), while our waiters were able to identify buildings and tell us their history from our seats!
Good house wines too

The weather here is great so far - not too cold (about 2-4 degrees celcius during the day). We met a couple of other aussies in the bar too which was nice! It is expected to drop significantly though, but oh well; such is life. It was nice to see snow!

I have quite a few photos from the museum of natural history though - once again, I will post pic's once I can

So far New York has not failed to impress!

 

[tangof1]

Glad you enjoying the trip, can't wait to read it as your travelling, who did you fly with to JFK from LAX.

 

[nate89]

Glad you enjoying the trip, can't wait to read it as your travelling, who did you fly with to JFK from LAX.

All domestic flights are with American Airlines. As I am with Qantas and don't use Thai Airways of China Eastern, I wanted to stick with One World.

In all honesty, the flights have gone fine with exception of seating. I am currently sitting in row 40 of AA3 from JFK to LAX. I wasn't given a choice of seating so I am not even sitting next to my girlfriend (a row ahead of me) and I am right next to the toilet in the back row (can't lean back far in my chair).

I am pretty peeved about that. I am okay with the online check-in and the lack of guides in JFK airport about where to check-in, etc. but not being able to pick seats is a real PITA. I am tempted to upgrade on the flights to SEA from SFO and back from SEA to LAX just to escape the hassle of having bad seats.

I can't seem to check-in online as I am not an AAdvantage member.



Anyways, enough of my ranting about that before something more mean comes out

TBC

 

[nate89]

We have just left JFK after 6 nights in NYC. 5 nights spent at the Millenium Hilton right smack damn in middle of NYC financial district (literally metres away from ground zero). The 6th night was spent at Hilton Garden Inn JFK.

Comments about JFK:
We noticed that there was no restraint on people coming into the baggage collection area; with all the security concerns that seems to have been quite an oversight for a mega-city such as NY?

Other than that, everything went smoothly. Nothing to complain except for the ridiculous line for taxi’s. After collecting our bags, we lined up in a taxi line that took an hour to get to the front of. It wasn’t for lack of taxi’s, but the huge number of people in line. It’s not fun waiting in below zero temperatures for a taxi!
I guess in defense of JFK, this line is probably at least partially a result of the aftermath of the blizzard NY had been experiencing for the past week which caused a build up in travellers. However, snow is not a new thing there. You would have thought they would be more prepared for it.

Comments about Millenium Hilton:
Excellent staff overall! Really, I have to commend them on it. When we first entered, there was a bell boy at the door who didn't hear us open the first door, but the second door he heard and then he jumped into action and picked up our bags immediately from us (politely) and directed us where to check-in.

We checked in fine, he took us up to our rooms and we were just peering around a bit. We were in room 3602 (36th level on the South West Corner so we were overlooking Ground Zero). He was able to show us all the sights, direct us to the nearest convenience store, took out our luggage racks and put up our luggage all without hassle. English wasn't his native language, but he spoke it well enough and understood our aussie accents so all was good. Tipped him 10 bucks and he was happily on his way after asking if there was anything else we wanted to know.

We ended up spending $400 on food/drinks for the duration of our stay so I would say we got a pretty good idea of the service. Generally, it was good. Food came quickly enough (~20 minutes for dinner for two), waiters brought the stuff in, I signed for it and they left. There is an 18% tip surcharge though that, as far as I could see, is not voluntary. I never added any extra for room service as I thought that was by far enough already.

We did go down to the main restaurant and bar on New Years Eve. Once again, excellent staff in both restaurant and bar. Our waiter was able to tell us the history of a building that we thought looked pretty (turned out to be the Woolworths building) and he also gave us an extra half bottle of wine 'just to finish it off' which was very nice. We ended up tipping him an extra 5% on top of normal 18%. Also, the bartender recommended for/against certain drinks and knew them well and he was very friendly too. He ended up with a 30% total tip (girlfriend did that – we had a bit too much to drink I think...), but he made us welcome so I guess he deserved it.

I have to say the food prices are not the cheapest, but that is what you expect I guess. Prices generally were around $17-25 +18% tip. 50 metres down the road at Charly’s (sp?) you could get the same amount of Caesar salad (freshly made) for $7.50 so oh well.

I wish the hotel had a 24 hour menu. They only offer breakfast + lunch, then a gap to 5pm where they start offering dinner. We had a late start on New Years and it was a bit irritating to have to leave the warm hotel just to get some snacks while recovering from the celebrations. I thought that was a bit of an oversight.

The room was very nice. Two large (seemed like 40”) LCD tv’s, king bed, usual amenities (Evelyn and Crabtree condiments for the missus); windows spanning the entire place with great views. I will post pictures once I have uploaded them from the camera

Only complaint about the rooms were the water pressure in the shower is a bit sad. The bath could be slightly larger, but it is deeper than the ones at LAX Hilton. The water pressure for the bath tap was much better though, so I am thinking it is the shower head restricting water flow.

I checked out the indoor pool – it is nice and clean as well as warm. Didn’t get to swim in it though

Check out went smoothly (didn’t give me the choice to zip checkout like they usually do though) – nothing much to comment there. Having said that, a 5 minute phone call to an Australian land line ended up costing me $60 USD – lesson learnt!


Comments on Hilton Garden Inn (JFK)
There is nothing special about this hotel; it is just your average Hilton airport hotel. It has a nice indoor heated pool and the staff were friendly. The airport bus driver (comes every half an hour on the hour) expects tips though, which was sad as the guy seemed a bit rude to us and threw our luggage a bit. We had a much more charismatic, friendly and not-expecting-tip driver from the LAX Hilton.

 

[Alanslegal]

Great report nate89

I love NYC and mainly for the bars and fusion-type restaurants that we don't have here in Australia.

 

[nate89]

Thanks

Just arrived at the Hilton Checkers in LA.

Had an embarassing moment - my credit card got declined after I had gone up to the room. A phone call from them and i put more funds on it, but it still didn't work.

Turns out ANZ froze my card because they thought there were some suspiscious charges Instead it turns out all the charges are fine though, but it wasn't easy working out what some of them were! Why can't business bill under the company they are issued!?

I have, once again, gone off topic so back onto topic.

LAX domestic - no issues. Went straight out on the flat escalators to baggage pick up. It took them about 20 minutes to get any luggage to the carousel (from exiting the plane), but other than that no complaints.

Taxi line at my stand of about 7 people inclusive of me and my girlfriend so the wait was only about 10 minutes.

Checked into the hotel fine - very courteous woman at reception. Also, the people I have spoken to on the phone (calling me up about a dud credit card!) were polite too, so good impressions so far

The room is nice, but there is absolutely no view unless you consider a concrete wall a view Oh well, we only got a basic room so nothing too surprising there.

 

[jandj]

Always found the US tipping thing a real pain in the asterisk.
Why in gods name cant they a) increase wages sufficiently to make the tip a genuine gratuity and/or,
b) automatically add 15% (or whatever) to every sale in a service driven business/environment. Would remove the anxiety for the occasional tourist.

Bad luck with your cc. I've had the bank phone me to verify a transaction (and that was when we were still in OZ), but fortunately not had the a/c frozen (touch wood).

 

[nate89]

Yes, tipping is quite annoying, but oh well. I'll leave it to the next president (whomever it may be) to sort that out

I think ANZ would have rung me directly if my phone were to work, but unfortunately my battery finally carked it and I can't charge it anymore. Oh well, better safe than sorry I suppose.

Incidentally, there were two substantial charges that tipped off ANZ.

1 turned out to be the hotel in whistler ("ww nt1 ltd" as hilton whistler) and 2 was hersha hosp mgmt. ANZ thought it was hospital management, but it turned out it was hersha hospitality management (hilton garden inn). Understandable mistake, but still annoying lol.

Anyways, picture time!

View from room in Hilton LAX! (rm 1740)

Room in Millenium Hilton (rm 3602)

Room in Millenium Hilton (rm 3602)
Excuse the chiming girlfriend

Central park!

I have photos of the view too, but the camera cable is MIA and the photos are on the camera card, not the SD card